Sessions Renews Drug-Use Attack: ‘It Will Destroy Your Life’

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed to crack down on drug use, including marijuana, sowing fresh seeds of doubt about the future of the legal-cannabis industry. 

“Our nation needs to say once again that using drugs is bad; it will destroy your life,” he said in the speech to law-enforcement officials in Richmond, Virginia. “I reject the idea that we’re going to be better placed if we have more marijuana. It’s not a healthy substance, particularly for young people.”

The Bloomberg Intelligence Global Cannabis Index, which includes 51 cannabis-related companies, fell as much as 2.4 percent after Sessions made the comments. It had been up 26 percent this year through Tuesday.

Wednesday’s speech wasn’t the first time Sessions has spoken out about marijuana, which is legal for adult use in eight states and Washington, D.C., and for medical use in 20 additional states. While Press Secretary Sean Spicer signaled that the Trump administration may be in favor of medical marijuana, Sessions has called arguments for pot’s medicinal uses “desperate.”

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a report in January stating that cannabis has therapeutic effects to treat chronic pain, muscle spasms related to multiple sclerosis, and nausea from chemotherapy. The study, which reviewed 10,000 scientific abstracts since 1999, also found potential respiratory and mental-health risks.

Representatives for the cannabis industry said they disagreed with Sessions’ assertion that marijuana ruins lives.

“With over 600,000 arrests a year, the only thing life-wrecking about marijuana is its prohibition,” said Erik Altieri, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a nonprofit lobbying group.

Obama’s Position

A crackdown on the industry would reverse the stance adopted under President Barack Obama, who largely deferred to the states on the issue. The previous administration focused instead on preventing distribution to minors, blocking sales across state lines and keeping marijuana out of the hands of criminals.

Even with his more adversarial position on marijuana, Sessions indicated that Obama’s policies for choosing which marijuana cases to pursue are largely valid. The Justice Department won’t be able to take over the enforcement work previously done by local authorities. 

“We’re not able to go into a state and pick up the work that police and sheriffs have been doing for decades,” he said.

Earlier Assurances

Sessions had made assurances before his confirmation to politicians representing jurisdictions where marijuana is legal. He told Republican U.S. Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado that there would be no drastic changes to federal policy, Gardner said.

Still, Sessions has the power to act. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, and he could decide to uphold those laws. Doing so would go against public opinion: A recent poll from Quinnipiac University found 71 percent of voters think “the government should not enforce federal laws against marijuana in states that have legalized medical or recreational use.”

Sessions said on Wednesday that he doesn’t care about being in step with trends.

“We’re not going to worry about being fashionable,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Kaplan in New York at jkaplan84@bloomberg.net, Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Lisa Wolfson